Source: The Examiner.com
There is an old saying – talk is cheap. However, it would appear that talk is about to get a whole lot more expensive. The Obama Administration has turned away from NASA and its family of contractors and toward the new, private companies that loosely comprise what has been dubbed, ‘NewSpace,’ (NASA being old space). Obama visited the launch pad of NewSpace firm SpaceX and viewed its Falcon 9 rocket when he visited KSC recently – while snubbing NASA employees.
To be honest – NASA needs NewSpace. It is too mired in bureaucracy to inspire anyone anymore. When the Vision for Space Exploration with its ‘Moon, Mars, Beyond’ mantra was announced – the public paid nest to no attention to it. The public is far more enamored with the exploits of Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne, the X-PRIZE and the Rocket Racing League. NASA needs the fire of inspiration that many of these companies have to reignite the space agency. However, NewSpace also desperately needs NASA’s measured, scientific approach, its maturity and most of all – its experience.
Many of these companies make bold promises that they can get to space far quicker, with more innovative technology and at less cost than NASA. NASA has been burned before by the lure of Faster-Better-Cheaper’ apparently once-bitten-twice-shy doesn’t hold true for politicians. The president appears quite infatuated with the amazing PowerPoint presentations and promises that he has been made. However, a few things are obvious – the president hasn’t done his homework – and the fascination with NewSpace stands a good chance of ruining America’s manned space program.
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